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New System Check

Post Date: 2008-02-06
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Bubbalotski View Drop Down
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Posts: 27 		  Quote Bubbalotski Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Topic: New System Check
    Posted: 06 Feb 2008 at 6:08pm

Here is my proposed system:

 

http://www.digitalstormonline.com/comploadsaved.asp?id=119329

 

For some background, I am upgrading from a 4 year old system (AMD 2500, 1GB, X800XT AIW, 80 GB HDD).  I hold onto systems fairly long (I still have my first PC - IBM 4.77hz 8088, 256KB Ram, Hercules Color Card, 2 x 5 1/4 floppy and Amber Monitor) and want a system that will last me at least 3 years with no significant upgrades. 

 

I am not hardware inept (my first job was repairing Apple IIs and video games), but hardware has long passed my meager abilities by as I am in about as non tech job as you can get.  As Abe Simpson said, "I used to be with “it,” then they changed what “it” was. Now what was “it” isn't “it,” and what is “it” is weird and scary to me. It'll happen to you too."  I can tinker, but prefer not to do so.

 

I am a long time computer gamer (started out on the mainframe game "Civil" back in '75), but now do mostly FPS.  I find that shooting people in the head is a great stress reliever and doing it on line avoids ... complications.  Right now I have only a 19" LCD, but will be growing that to (I hope) a 32" Sharp 32GP3U or a 24" monitor (hence the SLI for the larger monitors).

 

Being in the Army requires the system to have the ability to take the beating of fairly regular moves, so liquid cooling is out.  I am tired of dumping games to put on new ones so big HDD is important and want the machine to have the memory of an angry woman.  May go to 64bit OS when it is more stable and general user friendly.  I like 2 Optical drives for easy copying of work related materials.

 

I like gadgets and "doo das" and do not mind paying a little extra for neat things.  Budget is around $2500 +/- 10% and only because of  WAF (wife acceptance factor) and the machine is also a present to myself for promotion.

 

Is it better to wait for the new 9800GX2 rather than the 8800GTs?  It does violate my rule of never wait or you will never buy motto but a week or two isn't that big of a deal.

 

I live in the Pacific NW now- no AC, but none really needed except for 3 or 4 days a year, but will relocate back to San Antonio in about 18 months- lots of AC.   Heat is not really an issue, but my current machine sounds like a 707 with the fan noise from the card and the CPU//case fan.  Quiet is good.  I would like to lower the noise in the "man cave" as much as possible.
 
Also, any MB support ESATA or is that an add on card or what?  I plan to use an external drive to ghost the internal drive.
 
Any reason to or not to partition the 500GB drive? If yes, what size?
 

Any comments or suggestions are appreciated.

 
 
B
 
Here is the config at a glance:
 

Specifications:

Case: Digital Storm Twister ULTRA (Black Anodized Aluminum Finish)

Power Supply: 750W SilverStone Olympia (Dual SLI Compatible) (Model: OP750) (Silent)

Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz (1066MHz FSB)(8MB Cache)

Motherboard: nVidia 680i Core 2 Quad (By: eVGA)(nForce 680i SLI)(A1 Revision)

Memory: 4GB DDR2 Corsair at 800MHz XMS2 (Dual Channel) (Extreme-Performance)

Floppy / Card: Digital Media Card Reader (Black)

Hard Drive 1: 500GB Western Digital (16MB Cache) (7200 RPM) (SATA)

Hard Drive 2: - No Thanks

Raid Option: - No Thanks

Hard Drive 3: - No Thanks

Optical Drive 1: DVD-ROM/CD-ROM (DVD Reader 16x / CD Reader 40x)

Optical Drive 2: DVD±R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 20x / CD-Writer 48x) (LightScribe Edition)

Network Card: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)

Video Card: 2x SLI Dual (nVidia GeForce 8800GT 512MB (By: eVGA) (PCI-Express)

TV Tuner: - No Thanks Sound Card: Motherboard Multi-Channel High Definition Audio (7.1 Channel)

Physics Card: - No Thanks

Cooling: Air Cooled Stage 2 (Silent Artic Cooling Heat-sink (Copper Heatpipes)

Case Lighting: Blizzard Internal Lighting (Blue Edition) (Cold Cathode Tubes)

Round Cables: Enhanced Interior Air Flow (Optical Drive & Floppy Cables (Blue Edition)

User Manual: Personalized Platinum Digital Storm Binder (Includes Paperwork/Benchmarks/CDs/Manuals)

Overclock Processor: Yes, Overclock the processor as much as possible with complete stability

Overclock Video Card: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)

Overclock Memory: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory Tweak

Windows: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system Windows

OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium

Restore Kit: Digital Storm Specialized Recovery System (DVD Image Based)

Protection: - No Thanks

Office: - No Thanks

Benchmarking: - No Thanks

Pre-Install Game: - No Thanks

LCD Display: - No Thanks

Surge Shield: - No Thanks

Speakers: - No Thanks

Keyboard: Microsoft Multimedia Desktop 2.0 (Multimedia Keyboard + Optical Wheel Mouse)

Mouse: - No Thanks my keyboard comes with a mouse

Warranty: 3 Year Platinum Care Extended Parts & Labor Warranty

Support: Lifetime Toll-Free Platinum Care Technical Support

 
 


Edited by Bubbalotski - 06 Feb 2008 at 6:15pm
If you're in a fair fight, you didn't plan it properly.

- Nick Lappos, Chief R&D Pilot, Sikorsky Aircraft
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Tyler Lowe View Drop Down
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Email address used to purchase matched with forums account email.

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Posts: 0 		  Quote Tyler Lowe Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 06 Feb 2008 at 11:48pm
First, congratulations on your promotion.

Now, about your new toy:

I had a PC a bit like your first. You will probably recall the move to 32-bit. People said we would never need more than 4GB of addresses. Naturally, we (I am pretty sure I'm one of the fools that couldn't imagine needing that much memory) were all wrong. If you think you want to include 4GB of RAM in a build, and you also want SLI GPU's totaling 1GB of VRAM, I am going to suggest that you will want to decide if you want a 64-bit OS before making the decision on the amount of system RAM.

I have a GPU with only 256MB of VRAM, and my system will recognize ~2.85GB of RAM. I'd be surprised if you'd be able to address much more than ~2.10GB of the proposed 4GB of system RAM given your GPU selection. My suggestion would be to go ahead and do a 64-bit version of Vista, or just drop to 2GB of System RAM.

I think it is possibly worth waiting for the new card, but mostly to see if 2x 8800GT or this dual card will be cheaper. It could end up being a little bit less expensive, but I do wonder whether or not a PCI-e 1.1 slot will be a bottleneck for this card.

Ordinarily, I would recommend the 8800GTS over the GT, as having a GPU dump it's hot air outside of the case rather than inside of it is a good thing. For whatever reason, I don't see that as an option on the configuration screen.

If you can find a way to squeeze it in, I would also look to get 2 HDD's rather than 1. This will allow you to do a clean OS install without losing all of those game files (and patches) you wanted to avoid having to remove. You certainly can backup to an external drive, but I think you will find a few champions on this forum of programs like Acronis that will save an image of your HDD's as a better option.
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Thanhphan View Drop Down
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Joined: 22 Aug 2008
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Posts: 337 		  Quote Thanhphan Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 07 Feb 2008 at 4:24am
Here is my recommend config :
 

Specifications:

Case: Digital Storm Twister ULTRA (Black Anodized Aluminum Finish) Good choice, you can add more fans for better cooling. In addition, if you would like to see the hardwares inside with amazing Digital Storm wiring job , go with Digital Storm Twister EXTREME. More over, you choose blue case lighting, you will see it better with Digital Storm Twister EXTREME.

Power Supply: 750W SilverStone Olympia (Dual SLI Compatible) (Model: OP750) (Silent)

Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz (1066MHz FSB)(8MB Cache)

Motherboard: nVidia 680i Core 2 Quad (By: eVGA)(nForce 680i SLI)(A1 Revision)

Memory: 4GB DDR2 Corsair at 800MHz XMS2 or 2gb with 32 bit OS

Floppy / Card: Digital Media Card Reader (Black)

Hard Drive 1: 150GB Western Digital raptor (16MB Cache) (1000 RPM) (SATA) keep your os seprate with your data files, easy to back up or re-installed OS, etc

Hard Drive 2: - 500GB Western Digital (16MB Cache) (7200 RPM) (SATA)

Raid Option: - No Thanks

Hard Drive 3: - No Thanks

Optical Drive 1: DVD-ROM/CD-ROM (DVD Reader 16x / CD Reader 40x)

Optical Drive 2: DVD±R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 20x / CD-Writer 48x) (LightScribe Edition)

Network Card: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)

Video Card: 2x SLI Dual (nVidia GeForce 8800GTS 512MB (By: eVGA) (PCI-Express)

TV Tuner: - No Thanks Sound Card: Motherboard Multi-Channel High Definition Audio (7.1 Channel)

Physics Card: - No Thanks

Cooling: Air Cooled Stage 2 (Silent Artic Cooling Heat-sink (Copper Heatpipes)

Case Lighting: Blizzard Internal Lighting (Blue Edition) (Cold Cathode Tubes)

Round Cables: Enhanced Interior Air Flow (Optical Drive & Floppy Cables (Blue Edition)

User Manual: Personalized Platinum Digital Storm Binder (Includes Paperwork/Benchmarks/CDs/Manuals)

Overclock Processor: Yes, Overclock the processor as much as possible with complete stability

Overclock Video Card: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)

Overclock Memory: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory Tweak

Windows: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system Windows

OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium (64bit) or 32 bit with 2gb memory

Restore Kit: Digital Storm Specialized Recovery System (DVD Image Based)

Protection: - No Thanks

Office: - No Thanks

Benchmarking: - No Thanks

Pre-Install Game: - No Thanks

LCD Display: - No Thanks

Surge Shield: - No Thanks

Speakers: - No Thanks

Keyboard: Microsoft Multimedia Desktop 2.0 (Multimedia Keyboard + Optical Wheel Mouse)

Mouse: - No Thanks my keyboard comes with a mouse

Warranty: 3 Year Platinum Care Extended Parts & Labor Warranty

Support: Lifetime Toll-Free Platinum Care Technical Support

If you intend to play game with great sound, i would recommend add a sound card for better quality sound. ( Onboard sound card usually suck)

 
Hope it help !!Thumbs%20Up
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Bubbalotski View Drop Down
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Posts: 27 		  Quote Bubbalotski Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 08 Feb 2008 at 7:17pm
So would it be better to add a 160 GB drive (only $10 more than the 80GB) for the OS(es)? - I may end up doing a dual boot at some time.
 
Also does the Ultra case need more fans and if so, how loud are they?
 
This would be the new config:
 
 
Thanks
 
B
If you're in a fair fight, you didn't plan it properly.

- Nick Lappos, Chief R&D Pilot, Sikorsky Aircraft
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Tyler Lowe View Drop Down
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Posts: 0 		  Quote Tyler Lowe Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 08 Feb 2008 at 11:28pm
Originally posted by Bubbalotski

So would it be better to add a 160 GB drive (only $10 more than the 80GB) for the OS(es)?


I would. I have my OS on an 80GB HDD and it would be easier to have a bit more space. Had I the opportunity to configure again knowing what I know now, it would be 1x 160GB HHD for OS, 1x 80GB HDD for page files, 2x 160GB HDD in RAID 0 for main storage.
 
Originally posted by Bubbalotski

Also does the Ultra case need more fans and if so, how loud are they?


It is going to be more quiet to have several large (120mm) case fans moving air than it is to have the smaller component fans (GPU's in particular) and a CPU fan whirring away at higher speeds because the case can't feed them enough cool air. The fans used are very quiet. I would go ahead and get a couple of extra for the $10 each DSO charges. It'll get you a major return in performance without adding much expense or noise.


 
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